I saw this on Tickld, and it pissed me off. These prisons are nicer than my college dorm. The **** is this?

I also tun' in prison,
having a gym, contraband Oratories,
and visits along with the
basic necessities of life doesn' t seem
like much of a punishment.
Heard you like to punish criminals.
Here are some Norwegian
Maximum sentence in Norway is
21 years. Killing someone will
most likely get you 10 years in one
of these:

They are in there because they didn't have one as a child, therefore no love received from their parents. This place isn't just a jail, its a place for them to relive what they missed during their childhood.

I completely agree with this, depending on the degree of the crime.
I really can't see the fairness of the situation that you apparently get 10 years in a cushioned hotel jail for murdering someone.
So you take someone's life and pay for it with volleyball? Sorry, but there's a limit.

A lot of the prisoners work, and pay for the luxuries. Some tax money will be used as well, of course. A part of the rehabilitation is to make them a working part of society. Giving them work does not only pay for a lot of the expenses, but give the prisoners options they didn't have before, and new experiences. This is real work, not what you see in some movies and ****, like walking along the road picking up trash.

There is enough work for everyone. The problem is just organizing it. It helps a lot that Norway is a lot more socialistic than other countries, making it easier for the state to assign people work. Then again, this give other problems.

I do believe other countries like the States will pick up on some of this, and create their own systems as things improve. We just need a visionary that also know how to execute it.

We have a special law called "Forvaring" It essentially means that they will get 21 years of prison, and then every 5 years after that get a new trial, where they will most likely be convicted. This means they get 21 years + 5 + 5 + 5 etc... Thats what will happen with Breivik.

I don't completely agree with it, but then again, if you think about it, there are VERY few murders, and attacks in Norway, and few rapes. Most prisoners are in for fraud, etc... It would be counter productive to let them rot in a cell where they will hate Norway and therefore won't change their ways. Norway has a low return rate of prisoners, and i think one of the reasons is that they are treated well enough.

Not exactly. For prisoners who are delusional, mentally ill, or have threats against their life if let out, they will stay in prison and get help and stuff. Anders does not get all of what you see here, and will probably never be released. If he gets mentally 'healthy' there is a slim chance.

I would also like to mention that part of the program for the normal prisoners is work. Getting some kind of job helps a lot, and not only because of the money. A lot of people ended up in prison because of no job or something similar.

You're right, Norway has one of the lowest percentages of fallbacks from people in prisons in the world - however, some penalties are just plain stupid. 10 years for killing someone is too mild in my opinion.

Good Prison: Ok, I may have punched a cop, but that was stupid of me. I'll avoid outbursts like that. I'm going to the gym today.....This place is great. I've really got time to reflect on my mistakes. I'm being released a better man or woman!

Bad Prison: WHAT THE ****!! THEY CAN'T PUT ME IN HERE!! THIS FOOD TASTES LIKE ****!!! I SWEAR! WHEN I GET OUT ALL YOU ******* COPS ARE DEAD!! I HAVE TO ******* **** IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!! *ANGRY GIBBERISH* I'M BEING RELEASED A VENGEFUL MONSTER!

Also remember that the state can hold you pretty much as long as they would like to, wich likely will happen to ABB. I'm not excactly sure about this, but i think they can hold you for 2 and 2 years with some sort of checking every 2nd year.

The problem is, the "smart" man has to worry about the "dumb" man raping/murdering him in prison, and thus has to become cruel and do bad things just to survive. That's all the US prison system teaches.

Spot on! This way when the convict serves his time he/she is much more likely to rejoin society as a functioning citizen. While in some countries prisons are for-profit facilities and as such the people in charge have no real incentive to turn convicts back into the right track (after all they are their source of income). It is just difference in policies on that particular matter.

It's good that Norway has such low crime rates, but I don't think that these prisons are the reason. I would even dare to say that Norway's crime rates could even drop lower if they made their punishments harder.
People are more likely to commit crimes (especially "lighter crimes" like stealing, dealing, vandalism etc.) when they know that they will barely get punished.

Crime is often a societal thing as well, Norway doesn't have ghettos and gangs and has large social security and very low income inequality. It is a very wealthy country.

You obviously can't get rid of all crime, but the crimes that tend to involve lack of money tend to be less relevant and with most people in Norway actually having decent parents who taught them right from wrong. So i don't think punishment would help with these lighter crimes. America is a terrible example of punishment, it doesn't work as they do it. But if you could teach that criminal to be something they'll be happier.

relax there anon. I don't know the extent of actual life in Norwegian prison, I've never been to prison, let alone Norwegian prison. I've only heard that it's supposed to be a cushy place compared to other prisons. That doesn't make me an idiot- it makes me uninformed but not an idiot. I'm asking what actually happens in those prisons to rehabilitate them without making them too comfortable there.

You didn't really ask a question. You just spouted a bunch of "facts" (I realize you didn't say they were facts but the way your writing made it seem like you believed what you were typing) when you have no idea. It's fine sometimes I type without thinking to. I don't have much to offer on the subject anyway, since I don't agree that prisoners should be given what seems like a reward but I also know that the way American prisons operate don't work very well. Maybe a Medium where there giving rehabilitation but not to the point of comfort.

"I don't really understand how though. If you make the place too cosy, they're going to WANT to reoffend so that they can get back in.

I understand that it works, I just don't get how these people don't walk out going "meh. I can get back in easily, and then I don't have to do **** all. it's like a holiday" "

Well that's not how I meant it to sound. It seems to me that's the way it would work.

I realise I did it in a stupid way- that kind of "but surely this would happen?" and then challenge someone who IS informed on the subject to dismiss that possibility with facts. You know what I mean? I said that the system works, so I had already dismissed that possibility by saying that.

Instead of saying

"I understand that it works, I just don't get how these people don't walk out going "meh. I can get back in easily, and then I don't have to do **** all. it's like a holiday""

I should have said

"I understand that this is not how it happens, but that's what one would expect, so what is it that prevents this happening?"

But whatever, I accept some of the blame. It doesn't really matter now. Life's too short to sit here caring about being called an idiot by people I will probably never encounter again in my life.

Norway approaches prison as a type of rehabilitation. The system works, as they have the lowest re-offending rates in Europe. Although it would seem to make sense to simply punish criminals, the fact is if you don't invest in their future and give them alternatives to being a criminal they'll be back in before you know it.

which in comparison to the costs would be smarter than letting one person go to prison many times. Like, the cost of a one-year inprisonment in high class must be lower than a ten-year inprisonment in low class. Even if it isn't. The number of inmates would dramatically decrease over the years.

yes but what about murderers? if some one just kills people i don't want them to get out from prison, or do you think that they should get a second chance? Welp the victims sure did not. But i still agree that rehabilitating is a good thing for people who have done not so major crimes.

Im in school for a criminal justice degree right now, and all I've learned this semester is that America's current system is ********* and is focused on general American ignorance and pride. First off, roughly 60-80% of our prison population is there for non violent offenses (drugs/traffic for example). And these men go to prison where they are basically brainwashed into becoming the "criminals" that we consider them to be. When everyone tells you you are a piece of ****, you begin to think you are. Not to mention the society that exists in prison, you have to change just to survive in worse off prisons. Our prison system is based off the good ol' American "get tough" idea. It's the same theory as sending kids to boot camps. It just doesn't work. Norway's system doesn't treat humans like **** so that they don't become ****.
Second, money is a ******** excuse. Imprisoning hundreds of thousands of people for the rest of their lives is much more expensive than rehabilitating the people that need it. If we spent the amount of money we do on preventing crimes and rehabilitating offenders back into society we would radically reduce crime in America. Of course, this is not to say Charles Manson or the shooters like in Connecticut and Arizona will be included. That's the one point where I disagree with Norway. If you already are a piece of **** I'm not going to polish you and throw you back out in the mix.

In Scandinavian countries and many European countries where the emphasize is on rehabilitation, if a person really is a piece of **** and is completely unable to fit into a civilized society, then they will most likely be locked up be treated on a mental clinic for most of their lives. I am 100% sure that Breihvik will never ever ever see freedom ever again.

Certainly not in the same way as others. Basically what we've learned is that everyone has different reasons for committing crimes, and there really is no "one size fits all" method for rehabilitation/punishment. If a man committed a crime heavily based on a psychological ailment, he should be treated differently from a man who robs a gas station because he is financially deprived and was raised in a culture that emphasizes wealth and power. Unfortunately, we are years, probably decades from a system that would incorporate this fact. We want a one size fits all system that keeps the "bad guys" off of the streets.